Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Homeschool Open House!

I originally wrote this post for Tiany's Homeschool Open House. Randi from I Have To Say invited me to join in for Back To Homeschool Week that she is hosting. If you are stopping by from her place, welcome!!

I thought I would begin by telling you a little about our family. My husband Phillip is the oldest of 7 children and was homeschooled from 6th grade through high school. I'm the oldest of 6 children and was homeschooled from 2nd grade through 11th grade.

Our oldest, Grace, is 9 years old and is starting 4th grade. Emily is 8 and starting 3rd grade. Benjamin is 6 and starting 1st grade.

Here they are, ready to begin the open house!

~Our Schoolroom~

We have converted our formal dining room into our schoolroom. While doing our "tablework" I sit on the far left, Benjamin sits beside me, and Emily at the end of the table.

Grace sits at her desk which is right behind me.

For our history, science, and read-alouds, we all sit together in the livingroom.

~Curriculum~

We have used the Sonlight curriculum for the past 5 years and are very happy with it. Grace and Emily are only 16 months apart and are able to do a lot of the same work. We also use various other books-whatever looks good!

The #1 homeschool book that I recommend is Charlotte Mason Companion-Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning by Karen Andreola.

Two more of my favorite books are Educating a Whole Hearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson and Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt. This book has wonderful book lists for picture books and read-alouds.Helpful links:Charlottemason.comKaren Andreola ArticlesAmbleside

~Schedules~

We usually homeschool year round, doing lighter work in the summer. We took most of the month of June off and will take several weeks off in October for a vacation so we will be hard at work during August and September.

As far as a daily schedule goes our goal is to start by 9:00am. (When this doesn't happen, we work later into the afternoon).

We start our day around the living room coffee table with the following...-The Lord's Prayer-Pray aloud time-Bible reading-Pledge of allegiance-Sing "America, the Beautiful"-Sing a hymn-Memory verse memorization

Then we all go into the schoolroom for...-Handwriting-Language Arts activities-Math

The rest of the morning is spent on...-Reading lessons-History-Geography-Science

We read our "read-alouds" after lunch.~Organization Tips~

My favorite organizer for all our school papers is this Rotating Desk Organizer. We just call it the "Big Spinny Thing" though. :0) We have used it every day for the past 1 1/2 years.

Each of the four sides have compartments for papers and books. In the middle are hanging file folders and room for more books.

Each corner has a section for pencils, scissors, etc. It is easy to pick up and take into the livingroom for our reading time.

Our workbooks our kept in these plastic holders.

The girls and Benjamin each have their own clipboard where I keep blank worksheets.

Once finished, they go into the hanging files labeled with their name and T.B.F. (to be filed).

What is a lapbook? It is a file folder, refolded with a "shutter-fold" and filled with mini books and flaps. It can be filled with information on any topic you choose.

I discovered lapbooks many years ago when the girls and Benjamin were too young to help. My goal for this coming year is to have them make their own books.

I made one for each of the girls and Benjamin. Here is Emily's book:

Inside are flaps and mini books for personal information such as full name, address and phone number. Seasons, days of the weeks, months of the year, poems, prayers, a hymn, Bible verses, the pledge of allegiance, names and calls of common birds, and names of common wildflowers.

A Lapbook on Manners

Inside is information on:-Little things you can do to help the whole family-Being a good friend-Being a good sport-Mealtime manners-How to apologize

The wonderful hostess of Homeschool Open House 2007 is Tiany from Less Of Me~More of Him. Be sure to visit her to read about other homeschoolers and also for information if you want to join in the fun!

I loved the tour of your happy little school, Kelli!!! I can just imagine all the fun times you all have learning together everyday. You are so blessed to be able to spend this time with your children, and they are blessed to have you!!! =)

You are my first "stop" on the Homeschool Open House, and I must say that it was fun getting a glimpse inside the day of another family. It was kind of neat to think, "Hey, we do that!" but also see new ideas too.

I noticed you use Clare Walker Leslie's book for nature journaling. We love her stuff, and in fact, because she lives around here, we have actually been able to go on nature journaling hikes with her where she has taught us how to observe and draw nature. You can read a bit about our experience with Clare here: http://www.northofthe49.com/blog/?p=50

This was so great - I absolutely loved the tour! It is always nice to be able to see how another family organizes their school. Plus, that picture of the Clarkson's book makes me want to go find it and start reading it again - I had started and then stopped - thanks for this post!

I don't have kids at home but I enjoyed this post. You are very organized and I know that has to be the #1 requirement of home schooling. Blessings to you and your 3 as you begin a new year of learning.Susan

I was just getting ready to make my Open House post, but I decided to pop over and visit a few others first. Yours was my first stop~ you inspired me to take a few pictures before I post!Thanks for sharing about your homeschooling days~ your kids are adorable!

Well Kelli, I see you have all the books I love. I think everyone should read Karen’s book !! Have you read her old parents review newsletters. They are wonderful, my favorite CM Hsing resourse xoxoxoxo Clarice

Wow, Kelli, thank you for sharing so much great information. I love your children's nature study materials. I love Charlotte Mason,as well. I also love all of the creative lapbooks that you and your children have made. I just adore lapbooking, isn't it the best? I so appreciate your organizational recommendations. Blessings!

Great post! I loved getting to see the things you do with your kids. I love the lapbook idea but have never put one together. We do hope to do that this year though. Thanks for sharing your homeschool with us! It's always a great source of encouragement for me!

FANTASTIC!! I'm so impressed. Just amazing....I'd love to homeschool. No space here in my little house and how do I teach them a 2nd language? I love how you have things set up. Your children are blessed by your efforts!

Hi Kelli,This was a great post! You and I even have a lot in common when it comes to homeschooling! We use Sonlight, and we also do some of the same type of lapbooks, nature journal stuff, etc. Your schoolroom is very nice and I love your organization tips. I'm afraid that's where our similarities end...you're so organized and I'm, um, not! But I am a wannabe, so I'm learning from your great example! LOLThanks for sharing this! Once again, you have motivated me so much! Have a wonderful day!Hugs,Amy

I have to agree, that the charlotte mason companion is a MUST have book! I loved your big black organizer thing. I have got to get one of those! We are always lugging around the pencil boxes, crayons, and rulers. It would be so much easier having them all in one spot!

how wonderful the open house was. I am sure that your little ones are learning more from you then many learn in public schools. My grandson was home schooled for many years. He is now in H.S. and for the first time going to public school. He is way ahead of the others in his class. That says a lot for his mother.....Good luck this year..mother, teacher and principal...Sharon K

Hi, Kelli! Your organizational tips and schedule helped me so much. I'm getting ready to homeschool for the first time. I have a 9, 4, 17 mo. old, and a 10 wk. old and feel a little overwhelmed, but anxious to get into it. I'm Connie a.k.a. Simply Quilted's daughter in law and she directed me to you. Look forward to visiting again!

Kelli, love the glimpse into your home school! I have incorporated more notebooking and lapbooking this year. I've already starting making the lapbook "spot" so they may spend more time in creativity and less time hunting down materials! Alas, our home school room is still in progress. God's timing, right?

I just popped over from Tiany's Open House. I really enjoyed the "tour" of your homeschool! I rally liked the ideal of lap books and the nature journals. I have picked up so many great tips/ideals to try out this year with the boys. Thanks so much.

Oh my goodness, I'm so glad I decided to drop over here today! I didn't know anything about the home school open house...I loved seeing yours! Thank you so much for the wonderful ideas. I am going to embark on my third year (and my youngest will Kindergarten) and I have to say, my organizational skills are a tad lacking. I picked up some wonderful tips here...thank you so much!

Wow! I'm not going to participate in this topic for myself, since I'm not a homeschooler, but I grew up homeschooled and can't WAIT to homeschool my own kids hwne I have some. You are SO organized! Even more so than my mom probably was, and she was pretty organized (although she'd argue that she wasn't at all). We used large parts of the Sonlight curriculum through my jr high and high school years and I loved the literature focus. I think I am a testimony to the success of homeschooling - and it's really fun to hear of someone who grew up homeschooling continuing and probably improving on the process!

Kelli,I LOVE your post on your wonderful looking homeschool. It sounds like you've got it all together and I LOVE your organization!!! I found it very helpful that you listed links to several things, and I will definitely be checking them out!

I have a question. How have you been keeping records such as grades and also when one term ends and another begins? I need to learn this so I can have my stuff straight should my district request records at the end of the year. This will be our first "official" year and its nerve-wracking for me!

Thank you SO much for sharing your homeschool, Kelli! I loved reading about everything. I have one more year until I start homeschooling so I am going to start gathering ideas now. Loved the lap books. :-)

I just read this amaxing post - and i am so inspired! I now know how you have time for the wonderful fun memory building stuff you do with your children - you are organized! I need to get more organized too so that we can have more time for fun! Thanks so much for sharing!

Oh Kelli, I am touched by the way you handle everything so well and with so much grace. I also come from a big family, I am the 5th of 7 kids, and my husband is the 5th of 5 kids. Homeschooling is not big here, and you cannot have any schools in a certain ratio if you are willing to homeschool, so I really enjoyed reading your post, I was homeschooled for my kindergarten, my mom did it with the help of her nieces, who were teachers. xoxox

You have a wonderful homeschool! I want to try lapbooking this year, and you gave some nice links for more information. I see you have a tape player at your schoolroom table. Do you use a lot of music?

Hi Kelli-- I have been a reader for quite some time and have you on my blogroll. I so enjoyed this post in particular, as it encompasses both a visual tour as well as tons of great ideas. I am calling our local Staples first thing tomorrow morning to see if they carry that "Spin Around Thingy" and adding that to my collection of helpful supplies for this year. Thanks for putting work into that post-- it showed!

Thank you, Kelli! I've had such a wonderful time reading your post. From the organization to the nature journals and lapbooks. It's been a joy! I have a 9yo dd, too, and I think she would love the nature journals. I've made a note to check them out.

I loved your post and am very interested in how you combine sonlight curriculum with lapbooking. I'm using an ecclectic approach, basically making up my own curriculum using state standards as starting points and making lapbooks for different topics. We've made around 15 lapbooks this year and we love it! BUT, I'm searching for a curriculum that has more planned out for me (to save me some planning time) but would still work easilly with lapbooks and give us time to make them (not too much busy work). How well do you feel Sonlight works with lapbooking and how do you do it within the curriculum framework? Do you have to take extra time or days off from the structure of Sonlight in order to do that? Thanks for the help! Looking forward to hearing from you and thanks for sharing all those beautiful ideas!

Hi Kelli,I just wanted to let you know that I linked this page to my blog as part of a week long series of posts. I did not want to just lift your pix and then give you credit I hope you do not mind let me know if you do and I will remove it. Thanks for the inspiration you provide Mrs.H (my real life friend who is more fabulous in person) and I really love your blog! Mrs M @ Rooster Hill

oh.my.lands.i have just found THE template i want to follow this year. this is THE BEST post on homeschooling/what we do/where we do it/curr/ideas/tutorials, etc. that i have EVER SEEN and i have seen a LOT! my kids are a bit older but i know i can incorporate a lot of what you are doing! we 2 use sonlight & i've done a lapbook or 2. you've inspired me w/ your schedule and i want to put NATURE notebooks back into place this year! THANK YOU!!! U R hereby BOOKMARKED!!!bless you! kt

Welcome! My name is Kelli and I am originally from Ontario, Canada but now enjoy living in Texas with my three teenagers. Grace is 18, Emily is 17, and Benjamin is 15.
I'm a work-at-home mom and in my spare time I love to decorate, antique store treasure hunt, bake, and celebrate the four seasons.
Please join me as I share photos and stories, along with some recipes and favorite things thrown in for good measure!